Encore News

News: Encore and TradeHelm Argentina Provide Offshore Support from Buenos Aires Under A Business Alliance

TradeHelm is a stable and mature organization formed by Chicago-based senior management in the financial services industry.

The facility in Argentina has strong affiliations with academic institutions and has a reputation for excellence in Computer Science and Software Engineering. The technical talent at these facilities is well-educated and skilled as software developers.

According to Peter Mauro, President and founder of Encore, “We are pleased with our partnership with TradeHelm as it enables us to bring strong and economical software development and maintenance alternatives to our clients.”

Contact Encore at pmauro@encore-c.com for more details on offshore support and how it is augmented by Encore’s local development-center facilities and near-shore outsourcing options.

News: OfficeMax Extends Encore for Offshore Support

Encore Consulting Services has been chosen by OfficeMax to staff a team from its Mumbai, India development center to support multiple production-based applications at OfficeMax. Encore is entering its 5th year under this support contract.

The team of 10 software developers will support the design, implementation, and testing of enhancements to the production-based applications. OfficeMax chose Encore because of its competitive service fees and the fact that the offshore Encore facilities were ready to deliver the multiple-year contract.

The project was announced by Peter Mauro, President of Encore. According to Mauro, “OfficeMax is a long-standing client of Encore. We appreciate the vote of confidence and know that our offshore facilities will pass on a strong value proposition by applying our PMTech project management techniques.”

Most organizations depend on web-based software and systems to run business processes, conduct transactions with suppliers and deliver sophisticated services to customers.
Web-based systems can compromise the overall security of an organization by exposing vulnerabilities that hackers can use to gain access to confidential company information or customer data.

Encore is partnering with IBM® to help companies decrease the risk of web application attacks and data breaches by automating application security vulnerability testing and discovery. IBM Security AppScan Standard can be used to reduce risk by testing applications before deployment and for ongoing risk assessment in production.
As an IBM Premier Partner, Encore can install and configure AppScan for your company, prepare a vulnerability report, and provide remediation recommendation. Encore will also produce industry specific reports such as PCI or HIPPA that can be used by your auditors. We will work with your staff to train them on how to use AppScan for both vulnerability testing and remediating issues.

News: Encore is Selected by Promus Capital to Conduct a Review and Assessment of IT Infrastructure Utilizing Enterprise Value Management (EVM)

Promus Capital, www.promuscapital.com, follows a strong mission statement to serve as a trusted steward for its clients. As acting Chief Investment Officer, Promus Capital will coordinate and implement an integrated planning and investment process designed to help its clients manage more efficiently and effectively their financial affairs. According to Promus, constructing and navigating the complexities of a well-rounded investment portfolio takes dedication, experience, and a high-level of attention to detail.

Recently, Promus contracted Encore to apply the skills offered by the Encore Enterprise Value Management (EVM) team to conduct an objective review of the IT Infrastructure of a corporate manufacturing client of Promus, to determine if the IT Infrastructure is compatible with industry standards and where it should be strengthened to enhance the value of this corporation.

Encore was recently chosen by a major Chicago bank to expand and integrate Microsoft Lync as a unified solution for collaboration and communication.

This project was in keeping with Encore’s service to implement a process to evaluate the appropriateness of Microsoft Lync as a robust and scalable unified communications solution and to map processes of Lync with internal and external users.

Encore delivered a process to evaluate the appropriateness of Salesforce.com and map the required processes of a Salesforce.com implementation with the sales management processes of the client. The result was integration of BPE processes around Salesforce.com as a common platform for a variety of internal business-development functions.

The Salesforce.com expertise provided by Encore was able to add significant value in defining best practice solutions and eliminating missteps due to lack of product knowledge. Encore was able to map the process definitions to Salesforce.com to produce a working model.

Contact Encore at pmauro@encore-c.com for more details on its process to integrate Salesforce.com around an improved BPE solution.

News: Encore Selected As A Staffing Vendor By Allstate Insurance And Travelers Insurance

According to Peter Mauro, President and founder of Encore, “We are pleased to have been chosen by these major insurance companies to help them fill their IT staffing plans.”

With our growing staff of recruiters complemented by our talent sourcing capabilities, Encore is confident that it will respond aggressively to fill job requisitions for both contract and permanent placements.

Encore has been chosen by a medical claims clearinghouse to bring efficiencies to the processing of workmans’ compensation claims. These claims flow through several Physical Therapy (PT) clinics throughout the Central States.

Encore is helping this clearinghouse transmit electronic claims to insurance carriers through EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). The software that we are developing will store information about the claims in a relational database for ongoing analysis and metrics review on the volume and nature of the claims processed. This business intelligence will help future efforts to improve the claims processing thus reducing the cost-per-claim.

According to Peter Mauro, President and founder of Encore, “The medical industry is required to go to EMR and we are prepared to help it achieve that goal in a very economical and proven way through our Health Maxima EMR and physicians billing software.”

The Health Maxima EMR software is priced to help the small clinics and offices of multiple physicians achieve EMR at a very economical price. Maxima schedules appointments, completes a chart during a visit, sends a prescription with its e-prescribing feature, and generates a bill to the patients all electronically. The supporting services handles the scanning of charts into the EMR repository. Total installation can be completed in a few days without disruption to the day-to-day business flow.

Also, Encore offers process-improvements and governance assessments in the following areas for the healthcare industry:

Encore has been chosen to deliver several task engagements over a multiple-month period applying its expertise in Microsoft BizTalk server technology.

According to Peter Mauro, President and founder of Encore, “We are please to be able to support First Solar by applying our skills as a Microsoft Solutions Partner in BizTalk. This technology has been perfected by Microsoft as a robust message processing software portal and Encore is very skilled at applying the extended features of BizTalk.”

News: Hengtian China and Encore Have Formed a Business Alliance to Provide Offshore Support in China

Encore is based in Chicago with an offshore development partner called Insigma Hengtian Software Ltd. (“Hengtian”) based in Hangzhou, China.

Hengtian is a stable and mature organization formed by US and China based senior management and is substantially funded. Hengtian is a joint venture between State Street Corporation of Boston and Zhejiang University of Hangzhou, China through the University’s commercial enterprise, Insigma Technology Ltd. (“Insigma”). The joint venture is an outgrowth of an original Technology Center established in 2001 as an alliance between State Street and the University.

Zhejiang University is one of China’s top three academic institutions, with a reputation for excellence in Computer Science and Software Engineering. Insigma is a publicly listed corporation based in Hangzhou, owned 30% by Zhejiang University and the remainder publicly held. Insigma engages in technology development and product distribution for global technology clients.

According to Peter Mauro, President and founder of Encore, “We are pleased with our partnership with Hengtian as it enables us to bring a strong and economical software development and maintenance alternative to our clients.”

News: CISCO and Encore have formed an Alliance as a CERTIFIED PARTNER in CONSULTING AND LICENSE PROCUREMENT

Additionally, with its affiliation as a CISO Certified Partner, Encore is able to pass on best-in-class pricing and licensing terms to its clients who acquire CISCO hardware and software from Encore.

News: SoftwareONE and Encore form a Business Alliance in ACQUISITION AND LICENSE PROCUREMENT

Through its affiliation with SoftwareONE, Encore provides software license procurement and software agreement management services to small, medium and enterprise-level customers worldwide. As a Microsoft LAR (Large Account Reseller), Encore has the ability to manage the full spectrum of Microsoft volume licensing programs, including Microsoft Select and Enterprise Agreements. Encore with SoftwareONE represents hundreds of other best-of-breed software publishers, including Adobe, Citrix, McAfee and Symantec.

Their software licensing specialists will take a consultative approach when recommending the best software licensing agreements for your organization. They make it their responsibility to advise you on the best long-term approach to acquiring and managing your mission critical software assets.

Encore is an active member of the SoftwareONE VARassist Partner Program with SoftwareONE, an industry leading LAR-VAR connect partner program. By engaging Encore and SoftwareONE, customers not only gain software licensing expertise, but full access to the SoftwareONE VARassist partner community, providing a full range of IT services.

News: OfficeMax Selects Encore For Offshore Support

Encore Consulting Services has been chosen by OfficeMax to staff a team from its Mumbi, India development center to support multiple production-base applications at OfficeMax.

The team of 10 software developers will support the design, implementation, and testing of enhancements to the production-based applications. OfficeMax chose Encore because of its competitive service fees and the fact that the offshore Encore facilities were ready to deliver the multiple-month contract.

The project was announced by Peter Mauro, President of Encore. According to Mauro, “OfficeMax is a long-standing client of Encore. We appreciate the vote of confidence and know that our offshore facilities will pass on a strong value proposition by applying its project management techniques called PMTech.”

News: The Museum of Science and Industry of Chicago has Selected Encore to Apply Microsoft BizTalk Server Expertise

Encore has been chosen to deliver several task engagements over a multiple-month period applying its expertise in Microsoft BizTalk server technology.

According to Peter Mauro, President and founder of Encore, “We are pleased to have been chosen by the Museum to remedy a project that had experienced delays. Our expert-level skills in BizTalk and relationship with Microsoft are the skills required to bring completion to this complex project.”

Encore is working with several IT staff members at the Museum to train the staff in BizTalk and apply programming skills to complete several technical tasks on this project.

News: Encore Opens a New Office in Boston

Peter Mauro, President and Founder of Encore Consulting Services, Inc. and Francis Laliberte, CEO announced that Encore has opened a branch in Boston, Massachusetts.

Both Laliberte and Mauro are from the Boston area and have previous experience delivering consulting services in Boston through their affiliation with Keane, Inc. Mauro relocated from Boston to Chicago where he founded Encore in 2000. Mauro mentioned that, “We know the Boston financial and software markets very well. Encore should grow in Boston because of our ability to deliver quality, and diverse IT-consulting services at reasonable cost .”

The Boston facilities will be led by Bob Binney. Bob is a lifelong resident of Massachusetts.Prior to joining Encore, Bob was founder and CEO of Eastmark consulting firm in Boston providing professional IT services to the financial community within the Northeast for the past 20 years.

Encore Consulting Services, Inc. has been tabbed as one of
the elite providers of Supply Chain Management solutions
to IBM Corporation's Small and Medium Business (SMB) marketing
initiatives. With over 90,000 business-to-business relationships
worldwide, IBM reaches much of their client base through
extended relationships of Regional Systems Integrators (RSI),
Independent Software Vendors (ISV), and consultants and
integrators that make up this network. From this network,
Encore was added to the SMB program as part of the top 0.5%
of partners because of its knowledge of the supply chain
industry, its balance of technical and functional skills,
and its understanding of the particular requirements of
the small and medium business community. "Our knowledge
of the supply chain industry and history with SMBs enable
us to provide a proven performance to our clients," notes
Peter Mauro, President and CEO of Encore Consulting Services,
Inc.

Encore Consulting Services, Inc. has been awarded a contract
by the Public Programs function of Arkansas Blue Cross Blue
Shield (ABCBS) to prepare the several processes
used by the organization for ISO9000 certification. Encores
senior ISO9000 consultants will follow a tailored and proven
approach to analyze and prepare the functions for a comprehensive
ISO9000 audit. The project is headed by Encores published
expert in total quality and ISO9000 compliance, Dr. Manu
Vora of the Illinois Institute of Technology.